HAWAIIAN  MISSION  CHILDREN’S  SOCIETIES 


LIBRARY 


COLLECTED  BY 

GOVERNOR  GEO.  R.  CARTER 


“Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother:  that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the 
land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  glveth  thee — ” 


“Religion  Is  not  an  end  but  a means.” 


Hawaiian  Mission  Centennial  Celebration 

1820-1920 


HONOLULU,  APRIL  11-19,  1920 


HAWAIIAN  MISSION  CHILDREN’S  SOCIETIES 


LIBRARY 


COLLECTED  BY 

GOVERNOR  GEO.  R.  CARTER 


“Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother:  that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the 
land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  glveth  thee — ” 


“Religion  Is  not  an  end  but  a means.” 


Hawaiian  Mission  Centennial  Celebration 

1820-1920 


HONOLULU,  APRIL  11-19,  1920 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/hawaiianmissioncOOtayl 


Hawaii’s  Literary  Treasure  House 

By  Albert  P.  Taylor. 

Have  you  seen  former  Governor  George  R.  Carter’s  library 
which  he  collected  for  the  Hawaiian  Mission  Children’s 
Society,  popularly  known  as  “Cousins’  Society  ?’’ 

He  tells  this  interesting  story  of  its  origin.  When  Governor 
of  the  Territory  of  Haw'aii  in  1903-1907,  he  was  shown  an  early 
report  of  the  Department  of  Education  which  told  of  works 
printed  in  the  Hawaiian  language  and  said  that  many  of  the 
earlier  editions  of  the  school  books,  printed  by  the  Missionaries, 
had  disappeared  and  it  was  impossible  at  that  time  to  present  a 
list  of  them ; and  Mr.  Carter  thought  if  it  was  impossible  around 
1860  to  make  a list  of  bibliography  of  Hawaiian  publications,  it 
might  not  now  be  impossible.  Any  way,  it  presented  an  interest- 
ing problem  and  offered  an  interesting  hobby  to  divert  a busy 
man. 

Books  in  Hawaiian 

The  Hawaiian  language  is  disappearing  and  some  day  works 
in  Hawaiian  will  be  a curiosity.  Mr.  Carter  began  the  collection 
of  them  as  well  as  the  records  of  their  publications,  and  for  a 
time  items  in  Hawaiian  were  the  only  things  that  interested  him, 
with  the  result  that  his  collection  of  these  works  is  the  largest 
in  existence ; among  them  he  has  some  exceedingly  interesting 
material.  Of  course,  the  earlier  ones  are  closely  identified  with 
the  Missions,  for  the  language  was  reduced  to  writing  by  the 
missionaries  and  the  Mission  Press  did  most  of  the  government 
printing  in  those  early  days. 

His  interesting  items  in  Hawaiian  are  many,  among  which  is 
the  Hymn  Book  of  1823.  This  little  volume  with  tortoise  shell 
covers,  which  you  can  put  into  your  pocket,  and  evidently  pre- 
pared for  royal  use,  Mr.  Carter  foimd  on  a back  shelf  at  the 
library  at  Yale  University,  not  even  indexed,  and  the  librarian 
refused  to  either  sell  or  exchange  other  books  for  it.  The  next 
day,  when  the  Governor  was  seated  on  the  platform,  during  the 
1907  commencement  exercises,  President  Hadley  handed  him 
the  little  volume  and  asked  him  to  accept  it  as  a gift  from  the 
University. 

The  pllection  has  the  first  three  editions  of  the  Bible,  the 
first  being  that  huge  fat  volume,  almost  as  thick  as  it  is  tall, 
printed  in  1838,  and  the  second  edition  of  1843,  which  is  said  to 
contain  the  choicest  and  purest  Hawaiian,  and,  finally  the  third, 
rare  edition ^of  1843,  printed  in  Honolulu  in  double  columns,  of 
which  only  500  copies  were  made.  There  is  also  the  first  edition 


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of  the  Hawaiian  Testament.  Parts  of  the  Testament  were  print- 
ed separately,  and  it  was  not  brought  together  into  a single  edi- 
tion until  about  1836.  The  first  part  of  the  earliest  edition,  made 
up  of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  was  printed  in  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
in  1828,  and  in  1837  there  was  issued  a complete  new  edition. 

In  Hawaiian  laws,  the  collection  contains  a number  of  broad- 
sides or  edicts  of  the  chiefs,  before  constitutional  government 
was  established.  One  of  the  Hawaiian  Historical  reports  contain- 
ed a prepared  list  of  works  in  Hawaiian,  and  in  that  the  author 
states  that  the  first  popular  collection  of  Hawaiian  laws  was  in 
1840.  But  Professor  Howard  M.  Ballou,  who  collected  the 
larger  portion  of  Governor  Carter’s  library  for  him,  found  in  a 
second-hand  book  shop  in  New  Haven  a little  Hawaiian  pam- 
phlet, printed  in  1834,  containing  a collection  of  laws,  which  so 
far  as  known  is  the  only  copy  in  existence. 

Mr.  Carter  has  tried  to  collect  all  the  Hawaiian  school  books, 
and  perhaps  others  who  may  read  this  will  be  equally  in- 
terested, and  can  add  to  the  collection.  The  collection  is  par- 
ticularly strong  in  vocabularies  and  grammars.  So  far  as  known 
all  of  the  works  in  the  latter  line  are  in  the  collection,  and  to  this 
is  added  the  vocabularies  of  many  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  or 
other  dialects  of  the  Polynesian  people.  During  Governor  Car- 
ter’s service  with  the  Red  Cross  in  France,  he  was  able  to  obtain 
the  first  Polynesian  vocabulary,  printed  in  French,  an  exceed- 
ingly rare  work.  He  has  gathered  together  all  the  information 
possible  about  the  language  of  the  Hawaiian  people,  for,  as  he 
says,  not  only  Captain  Cook  but  many  other  early  visitors  to 
Hawaii  were  struck  by  the  advancement  of  this  race  over  all 
others  in  the  Pacific.  The  Hawaiians  understood  the  value  of  a 
contract ; they  kept  their  bargains  better  than  other  races,  an  in- 
dication of  progress  and  advancement.  Their  irrigation  work 
showed  the  capacity  for  community  or  united  action,  not  only 
for  economic  purpose — and  this  step  in  advance  of  those  who 
would  only  learn  united  action  for  the  purpose  of  defense  or 
war. 

Early  Printing 

Turning  from  Hawaiian  to  the  early  printing  in  English,  Gov- 
ernor Carter’s  collection  has  some  exceedingly  interesting  and 
rare  items,  so  much  so  that  the  Hawaiian  Historical  Society  had 
published  in  one  of  its  papers  illustrations  of  a number  of  the 
items.  When  the  first  printing  press  was  set  up  in  1822,  Captain 
James  Hunnewell  gives  an  account  of  the  incident,  and  says  that 
the  Premier,  or  leading  chief,  turned  the  press  and  struck  off 
the  first  sheet  of  printing  material  this  side  of  the  Mississippi  in 
1822,  and  this  was  a single  sheet  containing  the  alphabet.  The 


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first  impression  was  taken  by  the  chief,  the  second  by  Mr.  Bing- 
ham, and  that  he  (Mr.  Hunnewell)  took  the  third  and  later  gave 
it  to’  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Mission  in  Boston.  This 
copy  has  been  lost.  Any  way.  Governor  Carter  is  of  the  opinion 
that  any  one  of  these  little  sheets  may  yet  be  discovered. 

The  first  periodical  or  publication  this  side  of  the  Mississippi 
River  was  “Ka  Lama  Hawaii,”  a little  weekly  paper  published 
at  Lahainaluna,  and  appeared  first  on  February  14,  1834.  The 
first  volume  contains  twenty-five  numbers,  and  is  one  of  the 
collection’s  most  valued  items. 

Turning  from  Protestant  publication  to  Catholic  literature,  the 
collection  contains  the  first  Catholic  publication,  a catechism 
printed  in  Macao  in  1834  and  bound  in  tapa  cloth, — a rare  and 
exceedingly  interesting  item.  Professor  Alexander  told  Mr.  Car- 
ter that  at  one  time  the  French  government,  interested  in  the 
spread  of  Catholic  faith,  sent  out  an  expedition  for  which  there 
had  been  prepared  printed  literature  for  use  in  the  different 
Islands  of  the  Pacific.  This  expedition  was  wrecked  off  the 
coast  of  South  America,  and  it  was  his  belief  that  possibly  some- 
where in  France  there  would  still  be  copies  of  such  of  these 
works  as  were  printed  in  Hawaiian,  but  no  one  yet  has  found 
any  of  them. 

It  seems  that  in  1833  the  missionaries  began  printing  for  the 
Hawaiians  a daily  food,  called  “Ka  Ai  o ka  La,”  and  this  was 
published  annually  up  to  1860.  The  collection  contains  an  exam- 
ple of  every  year,  only  one  or  two  years  lacking,  and  in  this 
connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Governor  Carter  has  one 
of  these  printed  by  the  Catholics  at  Nantes,  in  France,  which 
was  presented  to  him  by  Bishop  Libert.  The  year,  however,  is 
not  given. 

Printing  Press  Supreme 

A particularly  interesting  and  perhaps  one  of  its  most  valued 
possession,  is  a complete  collection  of  the  printed  minutes  of 
the  annual  meetings  of  the  Missions  from  1830  to  1853,  and  in 
these  little  pamphlets  also  appeared  minutes  of  the  Hawaiian 
Association  of  ordained  ministers  which  run  from  1823  to  1853. 

After  an  annual  meeting,  the  members  of  the  Mission  scat- 
tered to  their  various  stations  throughout  the  Islands,  and  in 
order  that  each  should  have  a record  of  what  had  been  decided 
at  the  annual  meeting,  a small  number,  first,  only  twenty  of  these 
extracts  of  the  minutes,  were  printed  and  sent  out,  not  for  gen- 
eral circulation,  but  for  the  private  use  of  the  missionaries.  Lat- 
er on,  there  were  as  many  as  sixty  of  these  copies  printed,  so 
that  it  has  been  very  difficult  to  get  a complete  set  of  them.  They 


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contain  much  valuable  information,  such  as  a report  of  the  print- 
ing committee  showing  what  was  printed  each  year. 

Another  interesting  thing  is  the  gathering  together  of  the  let- 
ters and  circulars  sent  out  from  Boston,  when,  with  a mail  arri- 
val here  it  was  found  expedient  to  print  copies  of  the  letters 
received  and  send  them  out  to  each  of  the  stations.  How  many 
were  printed,  no  one  now  knows,  but  there  are  two  neat  little 
volumes  containing  the  General  Letters  to  the  Sandwich  Islands 
Mission  from  the  year  1831  to  1860. 

Then  comes  a complete  set  of  the  reports  of  the  Hawaiian 
Mission  Children’s  Society  which  run  from  1853  on  to  the 
present  day.  As  is  so  well  known,  this  society  published  a quar- 
terly in  the  early  days,  called  “Made  Wreath”  and  the  Governor 
has  a bound  volume  containing  all  the  known  numbers  of  this 
interesting  literary  effort,  beginning  with  September,  1855,  and 
ending  with  October  of  1868.  The  collection  is  particularly  in- 
teresting to  the  Governor  as  his  father  and  mother  were  editors 
of  this  paper,  and  has  been  able  to  recognize  a number  of  edi- 
torials written  by  his  father.  In  some  instances,  the  poems  and 
editorials  show  the  author  in  pencil. 

It  seems  there  was  a Hawaiian  Missionary  Society  started  in 
1852  and  it  was  given  up  in  1863.  This  collection  contains  a 
complete  set  of  the  printed  annual  reports  of  this  organization. 

Life  of  Obookiah 

Among  the  early  incidents  leading  toward  the  establishment 
of  the  American  Mission  in  these  Islands  was  the  life  history  of 
Obookiah,  a Hawaiian  youth  who  was  found  on  the  steps  of  the 
church  (located  in  the  town  Green),  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  be- 
moaning the  fact  that  his  people  were  still  in  ignorance  of  Chris- 
tianity., He  was  taken  in  hand  by  some  of  the  good  people  of 
New  Haven  connected  with  Yale  College  and  was  educated.  His 
appeal  was  one  of  the  means  of  founding  a missionary  school  at 
Cornwall,  Conn.  He  traveled  through  New  England  asking  for 
assistance  in  sending  a mission  to  these  Islands,  and  after  his 
death  the  account  of  his  life  was  printed.  This  library  has  three 
editions  of  his  Memoirs.  The  first  appeared  in  New  Haven  in 
1819,  and  was  soon  exhausted  and  another  edition  printed  the 
next  year,  and  also  the  third  edition  issued  the  same  year  in 
Elizabethtown. 

In  the  collection  is  a large  number  of  pamphlets,  among  them 
many  of  those  that  are  intimately  connected  with  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  Mission.  There  is  a little  pamphlet,  marked,  Price 
25  cents,  which  appeared  in  Boston  in  1819,  and  contains  the 
sermon  delivered  at  Goshen,  Conn.,  at  the  ordination  of  both 
Messrs.  Bingham  and  Thurston  on  September  29th  of  that  year. 


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Also,  there  is  a copy  of  the  sermon  delivered  at  the  time  of 
Bingham’s  marriage  of  the  same  year. 

Then  there  is  a very  complete  set  of  those  works  that  appeared 
in  “Memoriam”  of  the  different  missionaries,  down  to  and  in- 
cluding that  of  Mother  Rice.  Among  these,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  is  that  of  the  Life  of  Mrs.  Thurston.  Any  one  who 
feels  discouraged  and  despondent  needs  only  to  turn  to  the  pages 
of  this  book,  published  in  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  to  be  cheered 
up  by  the  thought  of  the  conditions  under  which  she  struggled 
in  those  early  days.  Then,  also,  there  are  the  printed  accounts 
of  the  Golden  Weddings — there  are  three  of  these — the  Alexan- 
der, the  Lyman  and  the  Lowell  Smiths’,  and  to  which  should 
be  added  that  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sereno  Bishop. 

Rare  Histories 

The  modern  book  collector  would  be  interested  in  Governor 
Carter’s  five  copies  of  Dibble’s  History  of  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
printed  in  Lahainaluna  in  1843.  The  ordinary  person  would  per- 
haps not  note  any  difference,  but  Professor  Ballou,  collaborating 
with  Governor  Carter,  soon  discovered  variations  which  make 
technically  separate  editions.  The  first  work  appeared  without 
appendix,  451  pages,  and  some^vhere  Dibble  wrote  that  while 
the  whole  edition  had  been  printed,  he  could  not  afford  time  or 
labor  to  bind  them  and  so  only  one  hundred  copies  were  scat- 
tered among  the  missionaries  and  those  particularly  interested. 
Mr.  Carter’s  copy  has  on  its  fly-leaf  the  following  inscription: 
“To  Mrs.  Lorenzo  Lyons  with  the  kind  regards  of  the  Author.” 

The  value  of  this  work  was  soon  recognized,  as  the  material 
it  contains  had  been  obtained  by  Dibble  from  his  Hawaiian  stu- 
dents at  the  Seminary  in  Lahainaluna.  Each  year  as  they  gath- 
ered together,  they  were  instructed  to  bring  back  all  the  historical 
information  in  and  around  their  homes  throughout  the  islands. 
This  they  were  required  to  write  down  as  exercises  in  composi- 
tion, and  thus  much  original  matter  was  obtained  by  Dibble. 

Evidently  there  was  a demand  created  a little  later  and  more 
of  the  edition  were  bound,— this  time  with  an  appendix  which 
brought  the  number  of  pages  up  to  464, — and  Governor  Carter’s 
copy  has  the  bookplate  in  it  of  Mary  A.  Street,  the  daughter  of 
Rev.  Rufus  Anderson,  for  many  years  the  secretary  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  for  Foreign  Mission. 

Later,  in  October,  1843,  Dibble  wrote  to  Rev.  Rufus  Ander- 
son^  in  connection  with  this  work  telling  of  the  one  hundred 
copies  that  he  had  shipped  to  Boston,  and  that  he  regrets  certain 
errors  which  he  states  should  be  corrected  if  it  was  thou°-ht 
proper  to  get  out  another  edition;  and  to  the  surprise  of  the 


8 


collector  another  edition  was  found  where  the  corrections  in  the 
appendix  have  been  made. 

Governor  Carter  has  still  another  edition,  with  the  incorrect 
appendix,  but  with  four  engravings,  as  follows : 

1.  Kealakekua  Bay. 

2.  Lahaina  as  seen  from  Lahainaluna. 

3.  Lahainaluna. 

4.  Wailuku. 

These  engravings  were  made  on  copperplate  at  the  school,  and 
so  far  as  known  there  are  only  three  copies  of  this  book  located 
that  contain  the  four  engravings.  , 

The  collection  contains  the  little  pamphlet  published  at  the 
time  of  the  inauguration  of  Oahu  College  in  1854;  also  a rare 
copy  of  the  rules  and  laws  for  the  college  at  the  same  year. 
There  are  a number  of  programs  of  the  annual  exercises,  a com- 
plete set  of  which  would  be  exceedingly  interesting. 

How  It  Started 

After  collecting  things  exclusively  in  Hawaiian  for  some  little 
time,  there  came  a day  at  a meeting  of  the  Cousins’  Society 
when  W.  O.  Smith  made  a motion  that  those  present  then  and 
there  found  a Mission  Library,  and  Governor  Carter  thereupon 
concluded  that  he  would  extend  his  collection  and  gather  to- 
gether those  items  that  related  to  the  missionaries.  Then,  later, 
he  says,  it  was  an  easy  step  to  include  everything  that  related  to 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  he  has  been  urged  by  collectors  to 
extend  and  take  in  everything  that  relates  to  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
but  has  so  far  declined. 

In  gathering  the  collection  together,  it  is  interesting  to  note 
the  origin  of  many  of  the  items.  The  Governor  has  had  agents 
representing  him  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and  some  of  his 
rare  items  have  come  from  Australia  and  the  South  Seas.  In 
mainland  America,  Los  Angeles,  San  Francisco  and  Salt  Lake 
City  have  been  important  centers  for  collection,  in  addition  to 
Chicago,  Washington,  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Boston. 

Before  the  war,  a number  of  interesting  items  came  from 
Leipzig  and  Berlin,  and  others  from  Florence  and  Rome,  and  of 
course  Paris ; but  the  Mecca  of  all  book-collectors  is  of  course 
London,  and  the  Governor  was  amused  to  find  that  a London 
collector  had  a note  in  one  of  his  catalogues  stating  that  item 
referred  to  was  exceedingly  rare  and  not  found  in  Governor 
Carter’s  Library. 

Outside  of  those  things  which  refer  to  the  missionaries,  there 
is  a vast  field  of  exceedingly  interesting  material.  Take  the  life 
of  Kamehameha  I as  an  illustration.  The  Governor  has  from  time 
to  time  set  aside  index  cards  which  contain  reference  to  the 


9 


“Napoleon  of  the  Pacific,”  and  he  hopes  some  day  these  cards 
will  assist  in  the  preparation  of  an  account  of  the  life  of  this 
most  interesting  of  the  great  characters  of  Hawaiian  History. 
So  far  as  known,  the  only  portrait  of  Kamehameha  was  that  by  a 
Russian  artist.  It  appeared  first  in  von  Kotzebue’s  voyage,  pub- 
lished in  Weimar  in  1821.  The  same  portrait  appears  in  other 
editions  of  this  work,  and  Hunnewell  copied  it  in  his  journal  of 
the  Voyage  of  the  Missionary  Packet. 

First  American  Here 

Turning  from  Kamehameha  I,  the  Governor  thinks  one  of  the 
most  interesting  characters  connected  with  the  early  history  of 
Hawaii  is  that  of  John  Ledyard,  a great  American  explorer,  who 
was  one  of  the  subordinates  in  Cook’s  third  and  last  voyage  in 
the  Pacific,  and  therefore  may  have  been  the  first  American  to 
have  seen  these  Islands.  Ledyard  was  a student  at  Dartmouth 
College  in  New  Hampshire.  While  there,  disliking  its  strict 
rules,  he  determined  to  run  away  back  to  his  home  in  Hartford, 
Conn.,  and,  therefore,  cut  down  a tree  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
and  from  it  made  a dug-out  canoe  which  he  launched  one  night 
with  the  aid  of  his  fellow-students,  and  alone  undertook  to  go 
down  the  river  then  infested  with  Indians  and,  to  him,  unexplored 
and  unknown. 

The  voyage  he  accomplished  successfully,  and  his  roving  nature 
took  him  to  England  and  was  there  when  Cook’s  expedition  was 
gotten  together,  and  he  enlisted  with  it.  For  a long  time.  Gov- 
ernor Carter  was  of  the  opinion  that  John  Ledyard  was  the  first 
American  to  see  these  Islands.  It  seems  that  after  the  Cook’s 
expedition  reached  Kamchatka,  Ledyard  left  it  there  and  crossed 
Siberia  alone  on  foot,  the  first  white  man  to  do  so.  Jared  Sparks, 
president  of  Flarvard  College,  wrote  an  interesting  life  of  Led- 
yard, which  was  printed  in  1828;  Ledyard  returned  to  his  home 
in  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  there  in  1783  published  a journal  of 
Cook’s  last  voyage. 

This  was  the  first  American  publication  to  mention  the  North- 
west Coast  and  is  therefore  extremely  valuable  and  rare. 

It  was  not  until  Governor  Carter  obtained  his  copy  of  this 
work  that  he  learned  from  it  there  was  another  American  by  the 
name  of  John  Gore,  who  served  as  first  lieutenant  on  the  “Revo- 
lution,” and  not  until  it  can  be  ascertained  which  of  the  two  ves- 
sels sighted  the  Islands  first  can  it  be  learned  whether  it  was 
John  Gore  or  John  Ledyard  that  first  saw  these  Islands. 

When,  under  the  impression  that  Ledyard  was  the  only  Ameri- 
can in  Cook’s  expedition.  Governor  Carter  was  able  to  purchase 
his  autograph,  and,  in  a beautifully  bound  book  he  has  with  this, 


10 


the  autograph  of  Lord  Sandwich  for  whom  these  Islands  were 
named. 

To  this,  Governor  Carter  has  added  the  signature  of  Captain 
Cook  himself — he  owns  a page  in  the  Captain’s  hand-writing, 
also  the  autograph  of  Elizabeth  Cook,  the  wife  of  the  Captain. 

During  the  two  winters  that  Governor  Carter  was  in  Boston, 
he  printed  a preliminary  catalogue  of  his  collection,  which  he 
called  a “working  sheet.”  It  is  not  complete  and  contains  many 
errors.  His  object  was  simply  to  get  into  the  hands  of  collectors 
a list  of  those  things  which  he  already  possessed,  an  experiment 
which  he  states  was  not  very  successful,  as  he  learned  later  that 
a better  plan  was  to  have  circulars  printed  of  those  few  items 
that  he  did  not  have  and  desire  to  purchase. 

In  this  rough  catalogue,  the  Governor  has  a foreword  in  which 
he  states  his  intention  to  bequeath  the  library  to  the  Hawaiian 
Mission  Children’s  Society,  but  he  has  now  concluded  not  to 
wait  and  has  turned  over  to  the  Society  a large  part  of  the  col- 
lection so  that  it  may  be  available  to  its  members  and  as  an  in- 
centive for  others  to  add  to  the  collection.  Governor  Carter’s 
intention  is  to  keep  on  collecting.  As  he  says,  it  is  one  of  the 
best  hobbies  a man  can  ride,  and  has  been  a source  of  constant 
and  developing  interest  to  him,  and  he  has  found  not  only  great 
relaxation  in  the  work,  but  many  of  the  happiest  hours  of  his 
life  have  been  spent  both  in  the  collecting  and  reading  of  the 
books  themselves. 


J.P., 


EJucatioiii'fcHawaiianlsIands 


A brief  statement  of  the  Present 
Condition  of  the  Public  and  Pri- 
vate Schools  of  the  Republic, 


C.  T.^ODGHRS, 

Seor**tur>  Ueimrtineiit  of  Public  Iiustriiction 


V 


I 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  HAWAIIAN  15LAND5. 


It  was  a fortunate  thing  for  the  cause  of  education  in  these 
Islands  that  so  large  a proportion  of  the  earlier  white  set- 
tlers came  from  the  most  intelligent  and  substantial  class 
of  English  speaking  people.  Many  of  these  men  identified 
themselves  thoroughly  with  their  ado])ted  country  and  took 
active  and  leading  ]»arts  in  guiding  the  infant  state  on  its 
course  from  barbarism  to  civilization,  and  in  devising  a civil 
policy  and  social  order  to  rei)lace  the  al)original  feudal 
desi)otism.  In  nothing  is  the  wise  foresight  and  breadth  of 
view  of  these  men  more  manifest  than  in  their  having  made 
early,  and,  in  proportion  to  the  limited  resources  of  the 
country  at  the  time,  liberal  provision  for  education;  the  edu- 
cation, not  of  a small  class  or  a favored  few,  but  of  the  whole 
people. 

Although  the  purpose  of  this  jtaper  is  statistical  rather 
than  historical;  intended  to  give  results  and  present  conditions 
rather  than  to  trace  in  detail  the  steps  by  which  these  have 
been  reached,  attention  may  be  called  brietlt’  to  a few  land- 
marks in  the  (educational  history  of  the  country. 

In  lS2li,  about  two  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  first 
Christian  teachers,  the  first  spelling  book  was  published.  This 
may  be  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  systematic  popular 
education.  In  1841  a school  was  established  by  the  American 
Missionaries  at  Punahou,  in  the  vicinity  of  Honolulu.  This 
school  originally  intended  b}'  the  missionaries  for  their  own  chil- 
dren has  developed  into  what  is  now  known  as  Oahu  College. 
As  early  as  1843  the  school  work  of  the  Islands  was  considered 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  organized  as  a department  of  the 
government  and  put  in  charge  of  a cabinet  minister. 

W'ithin  ten  or  twelve  years  from  the  advent  of  the  first 
missionaries,  schools  had  become  general  throughout  the  coun- 
try. The  seminary  at  Lahainaluna  on  Maui  was  started  in  > 
1831,  and  still  exists  as  a government  school  combining 
academic  instruction  with  industrial  and  manual  training.  A 
government  reformatory  school  was  founded  in  1805,  and  in 


the  same  year  au  Act  passed  tlie  Legislative  Assembly  con- 
stituting a Board  of  Education  and  organizing  tlie  public 
school  system  of  the  country  on  lines  so  well  chosen  as  to 
have  serv(‘d  their  purpose  fairly  well  without  any  radical 
changes  almost  to  the  present  time.  A little  over  a year  ago 
Ihe  Legislature  again  raised  what  had  been  for  some  thirty 
years  a bureau  of  the  government,  to  the  rank  of  an  Executive 
I)e})artment,  making  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  ex-offlcio 
IMinister  of  Public  Instruction,  and  associating  with  him  six 
Commissioners,  the  Minister  and  Commissioners  together  con- 
stituting a Board  having  full  control  of  all  public  educational 
interests. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  the  interest  of  the 
leading  men  of  Hawaii  and  of  the  Government  as  such  in  the 
cause  of  popular  education  has  not  been  at  all  of  a spasmodic 
or  fitful  kind,  but  has  represented  a settled  policy,  pursued 
systematically  and  persistently  for  over  half  a century. 

As  a result  of  this  ])olicy,  we  find  education  in  the  Hawai- 
ian Islands  today  to  be  universal.  comj)ulsory  and  free.  The 
law  makes  it  obligatory  u]>on  all  children  between  the  ages 
of  six  and  fifteen  years  to  attend  school  regularly  unless  ex- 
<uised  for  sickness  or  some  other  equally  Aalid  cause,  and 
makes  no  distinction  as  to  race,  color  or  class.  It  is  entirely 
optional  with  parents  and  guardians  Avhether  children  be 
sent  to  public  or  indei)endent  schools,  but  to  school  they  must 
go,  and  that  with  at  least  a reasonable  degree  of  regularity. 

The  theory  being  that  the  Government  is  responsible  for 
seeing  that  all  children  within  its  jurisdiction  receive  a certain 
amount  of  education,  it  follows  logically  that  the  Government 
should  see  to  it  that  all  schools  in  the  country  are  in  jumper 
hands  and  capable  of  imi)arting  the  instruction  required. 

The  Government  does  not  undertake  to  exercise  direct  con- 
trol over  ju'iA’ate  or  indei)endent  schools,  but  no  such  school 
can  be  established  without  comj)iying  with  certain  statutory 
re(iuirements  and  obtaining  a formal  authorization  from  the 
L)e])artuient  of  Public  Instruction.  A person  Avishing  to  open 
a school  must  make  ap])lication  in  Avriting,  furnishing  satis- 
factory evidence  as  to  moral  character  and  scholarship,  and 
have  the  same  accompanied  by  a petition  for  such  a school 
in  tin*  locality  named,  signed  by  a reasonable  number  of  those 
whose  children  are  expected  to  attend. 

The  comj)ulsory  attendance  is  enforced  by  means  of  truant 
officers,  or  school  police,  of  whom  there  are  one  or  more  in 
each  district,  or  betAveen  forty  and  fifty  in  all.  These  officers 


3 


are  mostly  native  Hawaiians,  with  an  occasional  Portuguese 
or  Chinese  in  localities  where  children  of  those  nationalities 
are  most  numerous. 

These  officers  visit  the  schools  regularly,  get  the  names 
of  absentees  and  look  them  uj),  and  see  that  children  not  in  the 
government  schools  are  attending  elsewhere.  The  com- 
])ulsory  system  is  found  to  work  Avell  in  ]>ractice  and  is  en- 
forced with  very  little  friction.  The  x)eople  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  it  for  more  than  a generation  i>ast,  and  accept  it  as 
a matter  of  course. 

Formerly,  and  until  within  comparatively  recent  times^ 
the  government  schools  were  of  two  kinds;  the  so-called 
“common  schools’’  which  were  all  taught  by  native  Hawai- 
ians in  the  Hawaiian  language,  and  the  “select  schools”  which 
were  taught  in  Phiglish,  though  many  of  the  teachers  were 
Hawaiians  of  either  ])ure  or  mixed  blood.  Tuition  in  the  com- 
mon schools  was  entirely  free;  in  the  select  schools  a small 
fee  was  charged.  The  results  of  this  j>olicy  were  not  alto- 
getluM'  satisfactory.  The  natives  being  in  the  habit  of  send- 
ing their  cliildi-en  to  the  native  schools  for  perhaps  half  their 
school  age,  and  then,  if  ]X)ssessed  of  the  necessary  means,, 
transferring  them  to  the  schools  taught  in  English,  it  was 
found  that  the  instruction  received  in  the  former  afforded  a 
very  inade(]uat(‘  ]>rei)aration  for  the  requirements  of  the  latter, 
so  that  a consideiable  fraction  of  the  ju'escribed  school  age 
was  practically  wast(‘d.  Tin*  ])upils  had  learned  to  read  and 
write  Hawaiian  and  ac(juired  some  knowledge  of  arithmetic, 
geography,  (*tc.,  but  they  had  also  acMpiired  a habit  of  not  only 
i(*ading  and  writing,  but  of  thinking  in  their  native  language, 
so  that  it  was  (juite  a common  remark  of  teachers  in  the  select 
schools  that  they  preferred  to  take  a pui»il  who  had  never 
be(m  to  school  at  all,  to  one  who  had  passed  four  or  live  years 
in  a native  common  school. 

I-'^iom  time  to  time  the  Hawaiian  schools  weie  rei)laced  by 
Phiglish  at  the  reipiest  of  the  native  iieojile  themseh'es  in  the 
resp(*ctive  districts,  and  about  ten  years  ago  it  was  definitely 
(haadcd  to  close  out  all  that  remained  of  the  former,  as  fast 
as  it  could  be  done  without  crijijiling  the  service,  and  to  have 
the  whole  school  population  taught  in  English.  This  policy 
has  been  jmrsued  so  steadily  and  successfully  that  two  small 
schools  in  out  of  the  way  country  districts  are  all  that  now* 
remain  of  the  “common  schools”  of  former  days,  and  the 
lesidmits  of  the  neighborhood  are  now  asking  for  an  English 
school  in  place  of  one  of  these. 


4 


At  the  same  time,  and  as  a necessary  result  of  raising  the 
public  schools  generally  to  the  grade  of  what  had  been  former- 
ly known  as  “select  schools,’’  tuition  in  all  the  government 
schools  was  made  free,  with  the  one  exception  that  the  Govern- 
ment might  establish  a select,  that  is  to  say  a pay  school,  if 
thought  best,  in  any  district  where  there  was  a free  school 
affording  the  same  grade  of  instruction.  At  the  jmesont  time 
there  are  three  ]>ay  schools  in  all  under  the  Department;  the 
High  School  and  one  other  in  Honolulu,  and  one  in  Hilo,  the 
largest  town  on  the  Island  of  Hawaii. 

Including  the  High  School,  the  Xormal  School,  the  Reform- 
atory School  mentioned  above  and  one  night  school,  there  are 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  government  schools  of  all  kinds, 
r(*quiring  at  the  present  time  the  services  of  two  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  teachers  whose  monthly  salaries  aggregate  some- 
thing over  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  The  nationalities  of  these 
teachers,  according  to  the  last  printed  report,  were,  in  round 
numbers  as  follows:  Hawaiian  (including  those  of  pure  and 
mixed  blood),  forty  per  cent.;  Americans,  thirty-seven  per 
cent.;  British,  seventeen  per  cent.;  and  the  remainder  of 
various  foreign  nationalities.  It  is  however  to  be  noted  that 
a considerable  percentage  of  those  put  down  as  Americans, 
British,  etc.,  are  Hawaiian  born  but,  being  of  unmixed  foreign 
blood,  are  classed  according  to  the  nationality  of  their  i)arents. 
According  to  the  same  report,  about  forty-three  per  cent,  of 
the  teachers  were  males  and  fifty-seven  per  cent,  females. 

In  the  a])pointment  of  teachers,  race  lines  receive  very  little 
consideration.  There  are  teachers  from  all  the  principal 
nationalities  represented  here  with  the  exception  of  the  Jap- 
anese, who  are  comparatively  new  comers,  as  well  as  from  the 
various  crosses  and  combinations  of  the  same.  There  are 
white  principals,  with  native  assistants,  native  principals  with 
white  assistants,  and  all  working  together,  so  far  as  the  race 
question  is  concerned,  without  friction. 

In  addition  to  its  other  functions,  the  Department  of  Public 
Instruction  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  taking  the  census, 
this  being  done  every  six  years.  According  to  the  last  census, 
taken  a little  over  a year  ago,  the  population  within  the  legal 
coni])nlsory  school  age  was  14,2S(),  being  an  increase  of  2,277, 
or  about  nineteen  per  cent,  in  six  years;  while,  according  to 
the  school  statistics  compiled  as  of  December  81st,  189(),  the 
total  number  of  children  attending  all  schools,  government 
and  indei)endent,  was  14,028,  of  whom  10,180  were  in  govern- 
ment schools,  and  8,884  in  independent  schools.  It  will  be 


5 


noticed  tliat  the  population  within  school  age  and  the  number 
actually  attending  school  approximate  very  closely.  At  the 
time  of  the  last  biennial  report,  made  as  of  December  31st, 
181)5,  the  total  school  attendance  was  12,610.  The  increase 
for  the  year  181)6  was  therefore  1,107,  which  is  greater  than 
for  any  i)revious  two  years,  with  one  exception. 

The  following  table  gives  the  school  attendance  at  various 
times  during  the  last  42  years; 


Year.  Total  School  Attendance. 

1854 12,432 

1856 10,076 

1866 8,553 

1876 6,252 

1886 0,616 

1806 12,616 


It  will  be  noticed  that  the  lowest  ])oint  in  school  attendance 
was  reaclu'd  in  1876,  the  falling  off  during  the  preceding 
twenty  or  thirty  years  being  due  entirely  to  the  decrease  in 
the  native  pojuilation.  This  falling  off  in  native  Hawaiians 
still  continues,  though  not  i»erha])S  at  the  same  rate,  the 
doubling  of  the  school  attendance  in  the  last  twenty  years 
b(ung  due  to  the  large  increase  in  the  foreign  population,  many 
of  whose  children,  born  in  these  islands,  are  now  attending 
our  schools. 

riassifi<‘d  by  race  and  nationality,  the  14,286  children  re- 
turiuMl  in  the  last  census  as  within  the  legal  school  age  are 
found  to  be  divided  as  follows: 


Hawaiians  (full)  5,467 

Hawaiians  (part  2,437 

Hawaiian  born,  both  parents  being  foreigners.  4,505 

Chinese  and  Japanese 812 

South  Sea  Islanders 6 

^\'hite  foreigners  of  all  kinds 1,059 


Total  14,286 


It  will  be  seen  that  more  than  one-third  of  this  whole  num- 
ber consists  of  Hawaiian  born  children  of  unmixed  foreign 
blood.  This  shows  where  the  increased  school  attendance  of 
the  last  twenty  years  has  come  from,  and  points  most  unmis- 
takably to  what  may  be  expected  in  the  future. 

The  Legislature  meets  every  two  years  and  appropriations 


6 


an*  made  for  biemiial  periods.  The  a])i)ro])riatious  made  by 
the  last  Les’isbiture  for  school  ])urposes  for  the  two  years  end- 
iii»-  December  :tlst,  18!)7,  afj;f>regated  .|455,.‘t31.55,  or  at  the 
rate  of  f227,G(»5.77  per  annum,  which,  for  a conntr3’  having 
not  much  over  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  in  all,  may 
be  regarded  as  liberal.  This  provision,  large  as  it  ma^’  seem 
in  ])roportion  to  the  i)opulation  and  resources  of  the  countiw, 
is,  owing  to  the  raiud  increase  in  school  attendance  and  the 
constant  effort  to  raise  the  standard  of  qualifications  in  the 
teaching  force,  thus  causing  the  pay  roll  to  increase  more 
rajiidl.v  in  ])roportion  than  the  number  of  teachers,  proving 
inadequate  for  the  purpose  intended.  In  addition  to  the  appro- 
juiations  mentioned  above,  which  are  all  for  current  expenses, 
including  re]iairs  on  school  buildings,  about  thirty  thousand 
dollars  has  been  expended  within  the  last  3’ear  and  a half  in 
the  erection  of  new  school  houses  and  teachers’  cottages. 

This  last  item  ma.v  need  a word  of  explanation.  Owing 
to  the  local  conditions  existing  in  main'  of  the  out  of  town 
districts,  it  is  a matter  of  absolute  necessity,  if  the  Depart- 
ment expects  to  secure  and  retain  the  services  of  competent, 
well  educated  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  provide  them  with 
houses  to  live  in.  In  most  of  the  country-  districts  there  are 
no  hotels  or  boarding  houses,  and  in  mauA'  instances  no  white 
families  within  an}’  jiracticable  distance  of  the  school.  The 
teacher  or  teachers  must  therefore  keep  house  as  best  they 
may,  the  (Tovernment  building  a cottage  and  giving  them  the 
use  of  it  rent  free. 

This  adds  of  course  vein  materialh’  to  the  cost  of  canning 
on  the  schools  of  the  countrv,  but  it  is  an  expenditure  that 
cannot  be  avoided  without  seriousl}’  impairing  the  efficiency 
of  the  service.  As  the  countin  is  settled  u]),  this  difficulty 
will  disappear.  Of  the  sum  of  .^455,221.55,  mentioned  above 
as  the  aggregate  of  the  a])i)ro])riatious  for  the  current  expenses 
of  the  De])artment  for  the  biennial  ])eriod,  .f4()4.()()0.00  is  re- 
<}uired  for  salaries  and  pay  rolls,  mostly  for  teachers. 

\Vithin  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  instituted  and  is 
now  regularly  carried  on,  a system  of  teachers’  examinations. 
These  are  generall,v  held  annuall}',  but  not  alwa,vs  simul- 
taneousl.v,  throughout  the  Islands,  and  are  of  two  grades; 
j)riniarv  and  grammai',  the  former  being  the  onlv  one  made 
coin])ulsorv  up  to  the  present  time,  ('andidates  for  ])rimary 
certificates  are  examined  in  mental  and  wiitten  arithmetic, 
English  grammar,  reading,  s])elling,  dictation,  geography, 
])(*nmanshi])  and  methods  of  teaching,  ('andidates  for  the 


7 


giammar  grade  are,  in  addition  to  the  foregoing,  examined 
in  algebra,  geometry,  physiology,  pln  sical  geography,  general, 
American  and  HaA\  aiian  history,  and  theory  and  practice  of 
teaching.  Certificates  of  several  classes,  based  on  the  aver- 
ages obtained  are  granted  to  successful  candidates,  the  time 
for  Avhich  they  are  good  dei)ending  on  the  class  of  the  certifi- 
cate. Persons  earning  first  class  grammar  grade  certificates, 
which  requires  an  average  of  ninety  per  cent,  or  over,  and 
who  have  a record  of  five  years  or  more  of  successful  school 
room  Avork,  are  entitled  to  life  diplomas. 

Xew  teachers  commencing  without  ])revious  experience  re- 
ceive salaries  grad(‘d  accoiding  To  the  class  of  their  certifi- 
cates. Those  having  no  certificates  commence  at  a still  lower 
rate,  and  these  lattcu-  a])pointments  are  understood  to  be  tem- 
])orary,  the  aj)]»ointee  being  (*xpect(“d  to  take  the  examina- 
tion at  the  next  o])])ortunity,  and  being  liable  to  be  dro]»ped 
at  any  time  for  failing  to  do  so,  or  for  failing  to  pass. 

The  salaries  of  the  regular  teaching  force  are  annual 
salaries,  payable  monthly,  on  tlu‘  last  day  of  each  month,  va- 
cations inclmhnl.  A sejmraP*  draft  on  the  public  treasury  is 
drawn  for  each  salary,  and  the  money  inner  fails  to  be  ready 
on  the  appointed  day.  Each  employee  of  the  De])artment 
knows  just  what  In*  or  she  can  dejiend  u])on,  and  does  not  have, 
as  in  many  jdaces,  to  accept  a warrant  for  the  amount  due, 
to  bt*  collected  at  some  indefinite  time  in  the  future  Avhen  the 
j)ublic  treasury  may  be  in  a condition  to  pay. 

The  number  of  {)Uj)ils  to  e:ich  teacher  av(*rages  thirty,  in  all 
the  government  schools  throughout  the  Islands;  in  all  the  in- 
dependent schools  the  average  is  nineteen.  In  considering 
this  discre])ancy  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  indepen- 
dent schools  are  largely  boarding  schools,  Avhere  the  many 
things  to  be  attended  to  outside  the  routine  of  an  ordinary 
day  school,  necessitate  a jirojiortionately  larger  force. 

The  Honolulu  High  School  was  organized  in  1895,  the 
higher  grades  of  an  existing  school  being  taken  as  a nucleus 
and  transferred  to  new  quarters,  which  may,  with  very  little 
exaggeration  be  styled  “palatial.”  the  (Tovernment  having 
juirchased  for  the  ])urj)Ose  tvhat  was  one  of  the  largest,  and 
]»robably  considerably  the  most  costly  private  residence  in 
the  country,  it  having  been  built  and  finished  in  lavish  style 
by  the  bite  Princess  Ruth,  a sister  of  Kamehameha  IV.  and  V. 
This  jiroperty,  which  includes  ample  grounds  in  handsome 
condition  and  tAvo  buildings  suitable  for  teachers’  residences, 
was  bought  on  terms  that  make  it  an  excellent  investment. 


8 


The  school  is  well  conducted  under  an  able  principal,  and  is 
doing  good  Avork. 

The  Xormal  School,  A\diich  is  accommodated  in  the  High 
School  building,  is  also  a new  departure  in  HaAvaiian  educa- 
tional policy,  haA’ing  been  established  a few  months  after  the 
High  School.  It  has  at  present  an  attendance  of  betAA-een 
forty-five  and  fifty,  and  is  in  charge  of  two  teachers.  The 
present  attendance  is  considerably  in  excess  of  that  of  la.st 
year,  and  an  addition  to  the  teaching  force  AA'ill  have  to  be 
made  at  an  early  day.  In  connection  with  the  Normal  there  is 
a “practice  school”  under  the  general  control  of  the  same 
principal.  It  is  one  of  the  Honolulu  primary  schools,  Avhere 
the  normal  students  are  sent  in  turn  to  teach  under  the 
supervision,  and  subject  to  the  criticism  of  the  regular 
teachers  of  the  school,  who  are  selected  Avith  special  reference 
to  their  fitness  for  this  work. 

According  to  the  last  printed  report,  the  independent  schools 
numbered  03  in  all,  with  a total  enrollment  of  3,420.  This  is 
an  aA'erage  of  about  fifty-five  pupils  to  a school,  while  the 
aA’erage  in  the  gOA^ernment  schools  is  something  over  eighty, 
^lore  than  half  the  independent  schools,  and  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  pupils  attending  schools  of  that  class  are  to  be 
found  in  Honolulu. 

Several  of  these  are  doing  valuable  work  in  lines  that  the 
Government  is  not  prepared  to  enter  upon.  Among  these  are 
the  boarding  schools  for  Hawaiian  girls,  of  which  there  are 
six  in  all,  four  of  these  being  in  Honolulu.  In  these  schools 
an  aggregate  of  nearly  three  hundred  and  fifty  Hawaiian 
girls  are  receiA’ing,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  school  course, 
training  in  household  arts  and  ciA’ilized  modes  of  living 
generally.  One  of  these  schools  is  in  charge  of  a sisterhood 
of  the  Anglican  Church  Mission,  another  in  charge  of  a sister- 
hood of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  a third  is  part  of 
the  Kamehameha  school  work. 

The  Kamehameha  schools  were  established  under  the  Avill 
of  the  late  Mrs.  Bernice  Paualii  Bishop,  wife  of  C.  R.  Bishop 
of  the  Honolulu  banking  house  of  Bishop  & Co.,  she  having 
left  the  bulk  of  a large  i)roperty  in  the  hands  of  trustees  for 
the  establishment  and  su])port  of  these  schools.  Mrs.  Bishop 
was  a native  HuAvaiian  of  high  rank,  avIio  having  no  children, 
and  her  husband  being  possessed  of  ample  means,  decided  to 
dedicate  her  Avealth  to  the  benefit  of  the  young  people  of  her 
own  race.  There  have  been  established  and  are  now  in  suc- 
cessful o])eration,  in  addition  to  the  girls’  boarding  school 


1) 


just  mentioned,  a boys’  school  combining  manual  and  technical 
instruction  with  the  ordinary  school  branches,  and  a prepara- 
tory department.  Mr.  Bishop  has  supplemented  his  wife's 
becjnest  with  large  and  repeated  gifts  from  his  own  fortune, 
and  the  ample  means  at  their  command  have  enabled  the 
trustees  to  organize  and  equip  the  school  on  very  liberal 
lines,  ('ommodious  and  well  ecpiipped  work  shops  with  steam 
power  and  the  best  mechanical  appliances  obtainable,  enable 
tills  school  to  give  thorough  training  in  various  departments 
of  wood  and  metal  working,  and  the  boys  show  a very  satis- 
factoiy  degree  both  of  interest  in  their  work  and  of  capacity 
for  accpiiring  proficiency  and  skill  therein.  The  last  report  of 
Ili(*  Department  of  Public  Instruction  says,  “The  boys  who 
have  passed  the  full  coarse  at  Kameliameha  are  beginning 
lo  till  various  worthy  jiositions  in  life  and  are  jnoving  them- 
.selves  able  men  for  the  woi  k they  undertake.’’  There  are  at 
jiresent  about  two  hundred  inmates  of  this  school  and  about 
fifty  in  the  jirejiaratory  deiiartment.  There  is  also,  in  connec- 
tion with  this  school,  a normal  and  training  deiiartment. 

Oahu  College,  mentioned  above  as  having  been  founded  in 
1841  as  the  Punahou  School,  lias  developed  into  a well-equipped 
and  flourishing  institution,  having  boarding  and  day  departments, 
and  also  a preparatory  department,  which  latter  is  centrally 
located  in  the  town,  the  main  t stablishment  being  in  the  suburbs, 
some  two  miles  or  more  aAvay.  At  the  latter  place  there  are  very 
spacious  grounds,  with  substantial  and  handsome  buildings,  a 
laboratory  and  scientific  department,  and  all  the  machinery 
requisite  to  make  the  institution  a college  in  fact  as  well  as  in 
name.  The  main  academic  building,  completed  within  the 
last  year,  is  built  of  stone  at  a cost  of  •$76,000  00. 

A handsome  endowment  has  been  gradually  built  up,  amount- 
ing at  the  present  time  to  some  $28.5,000.00.  The  institution 
also  owns  considerable  land  outside  of  that  used  for  its  own  pur- 
poses, and  this  is  increasing  rapidly  in  value. 

The  president  and  other  members  of  the  college  staff'  are  able 
and  cultivated  ladies  and  gentlemien  and  the  institution  is  in 
every  way  an  honor  to  this  country. 

In  addition  to  the  institutions  mentioned  above,  there  is  a 
large  boarding  and  day  school  for  boys,  known  as  St.  Louis 
('ollege,  which  is  in  ( harge  of  a lay  teaching  brotherhood  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  and  a number  of  small  schools  sujiported 
by  jirivate  enterprise,  including  seAeral  well  conducted  kinder 
gartens. 

On  the  subject  of  the  secularization  of  the  jiublic  schools 
and  the  entire  separation  of  church  and  state,  the  Kepublic 


U) 


of  Hawaii  has  taken  advanced  <>;t‘onnd.  The  Constitution  for- 
bids any  gifts  or  sni)sidies  of  money,  lands,  or  public  credit 
to  any  denominational  or  sectarian  school,  or  in  fact,  to  any 
schools  not  nnder  the  direct  control  of  the  Government.  liy 
the  new  school  law,  ])assed  in  18!)f),  no  priest  or  minister  of  re- 
ligion can  be  a member  of  the  Board  of  Education.  Clergy- 
men, may  be,  and  in  several  instances  are  teachers  and  prin- 
cipals in  government  schools,  but  strict  care  is  taken  that  no 
denominational  tenets  of  any  kind  are  taught  in  the  schools 
under  their  care. 

The  Chinese  residents  maintain  a number  of  small  schools 
devoted  to  the  teaching  of  their  own  language,  but  these  are 
only  allow('d  on  condition  that  the  pupils  therein,  if  within 
the  legal  school  age,  shall  also  attend  regularly  at  some  school 
taught  in  English,  and  take  the  instruction  in  Chinese  outside 
of  government  school  hours. 

One  result  of  the  efforts  that  have  been  made  in  educational 
matters  is  that,  so  far  as  the  younger  portion  of  the  white 
population  and  the  native  Hawaiians  are  concerned,  the  per- 
centage of  illiteracy  is  less  than  in  any  of  the  great  European 
nations,  I’rnssia  perhaps  excei)ted,  and  less  than  in  many 
States  of  the  American  Union.  It  is  A’ery  rare  to  find  a native 
Hawaiian  nnder  forty  years  of  age  who  cannot  at  least  read 
and  wi'ite  his  own  language,  and  those  of  the  population  sign- 
ing their  names  with  a cross  must  be  looked  for  among  those 
whose  earlier  years  were  ]>assed  elsewhere  than  in  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands. 


